A VILLANELLE IN COLD WEATHER

So much to share, adore, and bless:
so much unreason to commit:
oh, teach me love in quietness.

Oh flower of self-born distress,
oh sun I love-in, can I quit
so much to share, adore, and bless?

Love's opal and unasking dress:
in quietness accord me it;
oh teach me, love, in quietness,

that is not less that postures less.
Teach me the dances that befit
so much to share, adore, and bless.

Goodbye to hell and hope and guess
and breathless wit outrunning wit:
oh teach me Love, in quietness.

To whom I-oblate re-confess,
on whom the burning emblems sit
(so much to share, adore, and bless):
oh teach me love in quietness.


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